Microsoft Celebrates 1 Year of Office 365

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it's celebrating the first anniversary of Office 365 by pushing its cloud productivity service into new markets and offering an education version for free. Additionally, Microsoft announced new enterprise customers of the rapidly expanding service.

“Office 365 has doubled its global footprint since its launch one year ago this week, and today expands to 46 new markets, bringing total availability to 88 markets and 32 languages,” a Microsoft representative told me. “Additionally, brands like Lowe’s, Origin Energy, The Hilti Group, Hallmark Cards, Burger King, and Japan Airlines are just a few of the newest additions Microsoft welcomes to the Office 365 family. These companies use Office 365 to enable global employees to stay connected and work together all while on a reliable, trusted platform.”

Meanwhile, Office 365 for Education also launches today, replacing Live@edu with a free version of the Office 365 services—Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and Office Web Apps—to students, teachers, and faculty. You can sign up today at http://www.office365.com/education, and Microsoft says that some major educational institutions, including Dartmouth, Cornell, and Gonzaga, have already picked Office 365 for Education.

Those in other countries will be interested to know that Office 365 is now available in 46 new markets and has added support for 11 new languages. With this, Office 365 is now offered in 88 markets and 32 languages, and Microsoft says it “reaches over 4 billion people around the globe.”

Looking forward, Microsoft promises continuous improvements to the service and cites the more than 50 new capabilities it has added in the past year—an average of one update per week—as proof of its ongoing commitment. Microsoft is expected to soon announce an Office 2013 beta of some kind, and perhaps this coming product wave will include announcements related to Office 365 as well.